How to Stay Focused

Emily Thompson 0:02
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Kathleen Shannon 1:08
Hey boss, did you know that we're always hosting live Hangouts, Boss webinars in person meetups and vacations. We're also creating a lot of content over here at being the boss and we don't want you to miss out on a theme. The best way to stay updated is by joining our newsletter list. Just go to www.beingboss.club where you can learn more about our in person and online events, sign up for our newsletter and never miss out on a thing. Alright, Caitlin, what do we have today?

Caitlin Brehm 1:39
Okay, today I have a question for you about how to stay focused. This question comes from Jana. And she says that in her business, her main issue is staying organized and on task. She feels overwhelmed sometimes he also realizes that she tends to procrastinate, and doesn't stay focused all the time. If she could stay on task and focus more during work hours, she thinks she could really grow her business even more. But sometimes she feels like maybe it's coming from the fact that she's scared of success question mark. So her question is how does she hold and focus her organization and product production capacity, and not be scared of growing and success.

Emily Thompson 2:22
So for me, it's less about looking forward at success because I get it success is fucking scary. I feel it all the time. I had like dark moments this weekend finishing the books and I get off and thinking Who the fuck am I to write a book that's neither here nor there. What it really comes down to is what you want to be doing all day. And so whenever I wake up in the morning, I don't want to watch Netflix all day that shit makes me feel unproductive, and unproductive does not feel good. And I'm not worried about what's happening five years from now, because I have a task list to complete. Whenever I wake up in the morning, I want to be talking to my people, making sure my team's getting all the things done so that we can all live in, work this fantastic lives and jobs. And then I want to clock out at the end of the day feeling productive so that I can enjoy my time off happily and without regret. And I think that whenever you go to, at your day to day with that kind of mindset, procrastination doesn't happen, your tasks get done, and focus just happens. And you're not thinking about success down the road in a way that's going to hinder your ability to do what you need to do right now. So stop worrying about all the things. And so just think about, don't even think about instead practice living the life and working the job, you want to live and work. And then he'll be getting your shit done every single day.

Kathleen Shannon 3:51
Emily, I think that's a really great point. And I think the way you're really saying is that what makes you feel successful today, in the daily grind is going to add up to this really big success that you're actually kind of scared of down the line. But you won't have to be scared of it down the line. Because in the doing every single day, you are actually expanding your capacity for success and you're building your confidence around success whenever you feel successful every single day. I think for you Jana right now, that is completing your task list. So I'm going to give you some advice that Emily gave to me whenever I needed to get my stuff in order and was feeling just super scattered. And like I couldn't get on top of it. And this was during a big growth phase for us. We were launching a really premium offering we were writing a book, there was a lot of big success on the horizon for us. And so whenever I was feeling overwhelmed and slacking and kind of procrastinate, I wouldn't say slacking. I don't think there's a day that you

Emily Thompson 4:51
you wouldn't say slacking.

Kathleen Shannon 4:55
I mean, I really don't think that there's a day that would go by that any No,

Emily Thompson 5:00
I don't like you're slacking. But I do absolutely know that you could have been more productive.

Kathleen Shannon 5:06
So I wasn't maybe as entirely productive as I could have been. And so Emily was like, you've got to start tracking your time. It's something I've been resisting for years, because I come from an agency world where I was tracking every 15 minutes. And part of the way that I define success as a creative entrepreneur and freedom as a creative entrepreneur was not having to track my time. But our business has grown to the point where there is no room for any sort of procrastination to happen on our end. So Emily suggested that I start tracking my time, and I honestly only had to do it for two weeks, to really just get back into the habit and routine of being incredibly productive and efficient all day, every day. Um, so just to wrap this up in a little bow,

Emily Thompson 5:57
I would not yet Not yet, you're not wrapping anything up in a bow right yet, because you didn't even share the tactic that I thought you were going to share, though time tracking is one of my favorite things. I'm tracking my time right now. But there's another tactic that I think it also really helps whenever you are feeling overwhelmed, and you need to feel organized. And on task is the post it note method. So this is actually on our blog, we'll include a link to it in our show notes. But the idea is whenever you come into your task list, and it's huge or overwhelming, or just full of things you don't really feel like doing, pick three things, and stick it on a post it note, have it near you pick three things that are really important that need to be done. And I'm going to add an extra step here of have two of them be gross and have one of them be something that you actually want to do. Do the two gross things first, spend some time enjoying the third one that you really want to do. And then if you're feeling momentum, keep going at whatever tasks you want to complete. And if you're done, walk away and feel accomplished. Whenever you can give yourself permission to do this, maybe not every day, because sometimes you need to do more than three things a day. But whenever you give yourself the the permission to just focus on these three things instead of the 50 things. And especially if you're going to make sure that one of those is something that you enjoy doing, you'll find yourself feeling far more productive, marking off all three items on that, post it note washing it up and throwing it away. So that you can walk away and feel like you've done something good in your business that day. So worst comes to it, get out your post it notes, do three things, and then go on with your life.

Caitlin Brehm 7:37
I'd also like to say to that Jana does have a business partner in this business. So maybe you need to kind of think about how Emily and Kathleen's relationship works, Kathleen really got on track because Emily was there to say, hey, I need you to track your time now. So maybe this is something you need to ask your business partner, hey, I need you to give me a little bit of tough love. So that I can get on a schedule that has me feeling more productive. Because a lot of people need that external motivation, especially if they're dealing with procrastination. So that could be something that helps you

Emily Thompson 8:15
Yeah, a business partner can definitely be the best accountability partner you could ever have.

Kathleen Shannon 8:21
And just to clear things up a little bit, I had been accomplishing my three things. Time, tracking time came into play whenever writing a book recording a podcast, and having a mastermind meeting wasn't enough, whenever I was like really wrapping up all those little tasks and to dues that just kept falling back behind. They were not the priorities on my list by any mean. But whenever I started tracking time, and you know, just depending on the kind of business that you have, and how many people you have helping you or not, you're gonna have a lot of little things that are starting to add up. And I think that's what starts becoming really overwhelming in the day to day. So for me, it wasn't like the big success on the horizon. It was like all the little stuff.

Emily Thompson 9:05
And and I will say to one of my favorite things about time tracking is not so much about kicking your ass in gear, but sometimes it's about giving you an actual, like physical or like visual representation of the fact that you are actually doing a lot of work.

Kathleen Shannon 9:21
That's a lot of thing. Like I was not giving myself enough credit. Yeah, when I was accomplishing.

Emily Thompson 9:27
Absolutely. So I think that can be like sometimes when we're feeling really busy. And we don't like for example, I've spent all of my day to day working on a very hefty webinar slideshow. And it is has been discussing at the end of the day, it's not done, which means I have nothing to show for all the work that I've done quite yet because I can't mark the thing off. So whenever you're doing things like especially big projects that take a lot of your energy, but you're unable to actually mark it off. You don't feel Completion, which means you don't feel productive. Just because I haven't completed it yet doesn't mean that I haven't been productive. So tracking your time can be a way to show you production when you don't have completion to prove your productivity. So that's just to say to tracking your time can also be a great indicator that you are actually doing a shit ton of work. You just need to recognize it.

Kathleen Shannon 10:23
Amen. And you're going to be you're going to start feeling so successful in your everyday which again, is going to expand your capacity for that greater success down the line. Jana, we are totally rooting for you. You've got this. Do the work. Hey, boss want even more actionable guidance from me and Emily, we're taking our expertise in branding, marketing and building profitable businesses to the being boss clubhouse. The clubhouse kicks off with a two day online retreat followed by a year of support and community. We've helped our clubhouse members get focused double their revenue, launch their dream offering and market themselves like a boss. Learn more at www.beingboss.club/clubhouse. Again, that's www.beingboss.club/clubhouse.

Emily Thompson 11:14
Did you like this minisode Be sure to check us out on our website at www.beingboss.club. There you can find more from being boss including our full episodes minisodes and blog posts. And while you're there, be sure to sign up for our mailing list so that you can get access to behind the scenes and exclusive content from Kathleen and myself to help you be more boss in your work and life. Do the work be boss